During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
Parallel translations
- WEB He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.
- KJV And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
- NKJV And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.
- NASB Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the Jabbok.
- NLT During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
That night Jacob sends his family across the ford of the Jabbok. He moves his household to safety as he prepares to face Esau.
Overview
Jacob takes his wives, servants, and eleven sons across the river under cover of night. The crossing of the Jabbok sets the scene for his solitary, transformative encounter. By sending others ahead, Jacob is left alone, where God will meet and wrestle with him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 3:16and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
- Deut 2:37But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
- 1 Tim 5:8If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Josh 12:2Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
- Gen 35:22–26While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Gen 35:18And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
- Gen 29:21Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 32:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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